Simon Russell Beale
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Language
English
Description
A Victorian family prepares a toy-theatre for their annual performance of A Christmas Carol. The audience enters the imagination of one of the children and quickly the cardboard stage transforms to reveal a magical world containing real dancers and stylised sets. The tale unfolds on screen in a rich tapestry of highly absorbing, haunting and theatrical drama with characters portrayed by dancers and voiced by an eclectic cast of incredible actors....
2) The tempest
Author
Language
English
Description
Presents the original text of Shakespeare's play side by side with a modern version, discusses the author and the theater of his time, and provides quizzes and other study activities.
Author
Language
English
Description
Spy chief George Smiley may intend to retire, but his active, intelligent mind is not so easily laid aside. So when British Secret Service asks him to go just one more round, his response is predictable--especially as it involves the brutal death of one of Smiley's loyal cohorts in the underground world of espionage. The man was killed just when he had information of utmost importance to pass on to his spy chief. Smiley's opponent in this conclusive...
4) Dunkirk
Language
English
Description
Explores the audacious bid to rescue over 400,000 troops from the British Expeditionary Force besieged on the beaches at Dunkirk, which ranks as one of the greatest maritime evacuations in history. Combines contemporary footage and reenactments to tell the story in 3 episodes.
Author
Language
English
Description
Today Byron is regarded as the ultimate romantic – a rebel, a Casanova and a man of intense, brooding passion. He was the most famous literary man of his time, and his poetry, endlessly witty and often insightful, was immensely popular and hugely influential. From the delicate romanticism of She Walks in Beauty to the evocative reflections of So We'll Go No More a Roving, Byron's poems were unrivalled in their power and potency. Lesser-known poems...
7) De Profundis
Author
Language
English
Description
Written during his time in Reading Gaol, De Profundis is Oscar Wilde's moving letter to Lord Alfred Douglas, whose relationship with Wilde led to the poet's imprisonment. Here Wilde repudiates Lord Alfred and reflects on his ordeal, acknowledging how the depths of his sorrow have helped liberate him towards a fuller, freer wisdom. Brimming with beautiful passages, De Profundis is a profound and inspiring treatise on the meaning of suffering, and...
Author
Language
English
Description
Two leading English classical actors, Juliet Stevenson and Simon Russell Beale, open the doors to eight important plays, including Much Ado About Nothing, Antony and Cleopatra, The Winter's Tale, Measure for Measure, and All's Well That Ends Well. These newly written introductions by David Timson have proved eminently useful for young audiences coming to Shakespeare for the first time.
Language
English
Description
The Hollow crown: New adaptations of Shakespeare's tetralogy of history plays comprising the 'Henriad' for the BBC's 2012 Cultural Olympiad: King Richard; II King Henry IV, Part 1; King Henry IV, Part 2 and King Henry V. The plays chronicle a continuous period in British history from the end of the 14th century to the aftermath of the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. Together, the plays comprise a story with recurring themes of power struggles, redemption,...